Vibrator mounting means



Dec. 10, 1968 c. G. MATSON 3,415,471

VIBRATOR MOUNTING MEANS Filed June 9, 1967 :2 I8 F IG, 3 INVENTOR. w 2 i28 '4 C.G.MATSO'N United States Patent 3,415,471 VIBRATOR MOUNTING MEANSCarl G. Matson, 401 E. Central Blvd., Kewanee, Ill. 61443 Filed June 9,1967, Ser. No. 644,939 4 Claims. (Cl. 248-14) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA vibrator mounting means for rigid, preferably permanent attachment toan object to be vibrated in connection with the unloading, settling,flowing, etc. of fluent, particulate etc. material, the mount being ofsubstantial size as compared with the area of the container etc. wall towhich it is attached and having one or more pairs of divergent clampsurfaces to which various types of vibrators or vibrator clamps may beattached.

Background of the invention The use of vibrators for the handling etc.of materials of the type and in the environments set forth above is ofcourse old and well known. The problems in the general field are many,largely because of duty requirements, substantial forces involved etc.,all of which lead to complications in attaching the vibrators to theobject to be vibrated. The conventional railway hopper car is typical ofan area in which these problems have become acute and in the past manysystems of attachment have been devised and used, characterized mainlyin using structural parts of the car as mounting ribs etc. for attachingthe vibrators. It has been found that these parts lack strength,especially in heavy-duty operations and one attempt to solve the problemhas relied upon the temporary welding of additional ribs etc. to thecar. Each installation presents a special case and it becomes difiicultto match vibrators and/ or vibrator clamps with the various types ofmountings. Further, the temporary weldments are often of such nature asto interfere with normal operation of the cars, especially in transit,because they present obstacles to free movement of the cars throughnarrow areas.

Summary of the invention The invention provides an improved vibratormount in the form of a simple and inexpensive plate-like element havinga flat medial part adapted to be attached, as by welding, to the wall orother structural component of an object to be vibrated, such as arailway hopper car or its equivalent, said medial part terminating atits opposite ends in turned up end or wing portions that extendoutwardly in symmetrically divergent relationship to cooperate withcomparably formed C-shaped clamp means on the vibrator for securing thevibrator rigidly but removably in place. A further feature is that eachend or wing terminates in an outer flat edge that is normal to the planeof divergence, and each cooperative part of the clamp means has aclamping screw threaded therein on an axis normal to the outer fiatedge, each screw engaging its respective edge to provide an elfectiveclamping action.

Description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a vibratormounted by means of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a smaller-scale view of an environmental use; and

FIGURE 4 is a reduced-scale perspective of the mounting element.

Description of the preferred embodiment A vibrator of the type shown,for example, in the US. patent to Peterson No. 3,134,272, is designatedby the numeral 10 as being rigidly but removably mounted by means of anelement 12 to a wall or the like 14 of a material-containing or handlingobject such as a convent-ional railway hopper car 16. As disclosed inthe Peterson patent, the vibrator has an eccentric (not shown here)rotatable about an axis A-A that is perpendicular to a median plane BBthrough the vibrator. This median plane also passes medially through theelement 12, as will be apparent from the drawing.

In the use of the element 12, it may be welded at 18 singly in multiplesto the wall 14 of the hopper car as shown, or to any equivalent object,the present embodiment being designed especially to accommodate andsolve roblems encountered in the unloading of hopper cars; although, itwill be clear that the invention has wider application.

The element 12 may be typical plate-like metallic stock made up of aflat plate-like medial part 20 and integral or welded-on end parts 22bent or turned up at equal divergent angles to the plane of the part 20so that each part 22 lies at an angle of 45 to the plane of the part 20,thus giving an included angle of between the end parts. Because theelement may be so simply and inexpensively formed, the savings may beutilized in improvements in the design of the vibrator clamp means, heredesignated in its entirety by the numeral 24.

This means, preferably an integral part of the vibrator 10, forms astructure of substantially Oshaped section, including an under portion26 and a pair of opposed inwardly convergent arms 28 respectivelymatching and engageable with the plate wings 22. Thus, the clamp meansenables endwise sliding of the vibrator 10 on and off of the element 12.However, the composite frictional and clamping effect of the clampingmeans 24 and wings 22, augmented by screws 30 threaded through tappedbores 32 in the arms 28, provides a full 360 resistance to forcestending to loosen the vibrator, which will be clear from recognition ofthe fact that, as the vibrator eccentric (not shown) rotates, the forceschange throughout the full compass of 360; i.e., the cooperativesurfaces 22-28 establish a double 90 resistance and the screws 30complete the 360 because the axis of each screw is perpendicular to aterminal end edge 34 on the respective wing 22, which edge isperpendicular to its wing and the screw is centered on this edge. Inother words, the arm 28 cooperates both frictionally and positively withits wing 22 and the associated screw 30 operates lengthwise of the wingto complete the clamping action.

Another feature of the construction is that the wings 22 are so relatedto the plate-like central part 20 as to give the element a channelshape, thus enabling accommodation of the depending part 26 of thevibrator 10, permitting the vibrator to be more closely associated withthe object to be vibrated. Thus, the vibrator 10 is nested within theelement 12.

One of the main features of the invention is that the winged element 12is inexpensively produced and thus may be permanently welded to railwaycars, hoppers, eontainers, chutes, etc. at slight cost, enabling the useof vibrators designed according to that shown at 10 to be used eitherinterchangeably among several locations or in multiples at once, whichis in accordance with the desirability of providing the use of the samevibrator or sets thereof from car to car without requiring that thevibrators be welded temporarily to one car after another as in priorconstructions. Since the element per se is inexpensive, the more costlyaspects of the design may be devoted to the vibrator itself, making theentire system more facile and efficient, especially in the area ofenabling quick and easy installation, removal and replacement of thevibrator on ditferent parts of the same object to be vibrated.

I claim:

1. A vibrator and means for mounting same on an object to be vibrated,said means comprising a metallic element having a plate-like medial fiatpart adapted to rest against and be rigidly secured to such object and asingle pair of opposite plate-like end parts rigid with the medial partand diverging uniformly and symmetrically outwardly therefrom andterminating respectively in outer edges spaced uniformly outwardly fromthe plane of said medial part, each edge being normal to the plane ofits divergent end part, and said vibrator having rigid thereon clampmeans of substantially C-shaped section including rigid, inwardlyconvergent arms respectively conforming to and engaging with said endparts, and screw means engaging between the clamp means and the elementfor tightening the grip of said arms on said end parts.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which said element is ofone-piece construction in which said end parts are bent outwardly fromthe medial part to give the element a channel section form.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the screw means isthreaded through one of the clamp arms on an axis normal to therespective end part edge and said screw means engages said edge.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the screw means includes apair of screws threaded respectively through the clamp arms on axesrespectively normal to the end part edges and said screws respectivelyengage said edges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 852,678 5/1907 Reist 248-19 XR3,006,321 10/1961 Bailey 248-226 XR 3,107,889 10/1963 Peterson 248-143,333,799 8/1967 Peterson 248-14 JOHN PETO, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 248-19, 228

